Auto space mechanism for fabricating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A machine is disclosed herein for effecting fabrication of structural members, or the like, the machine comprising a work station having tooling means, drive means for advancing the structural member longitudinally of said work station, and apparatus for properly positioning the tooling means with respect to a predetermined location at which tooling operations are to be performed on the structural member. The positioning apparatus includes an indexing arrangement, as well as gauge means which permits automatic operation of the machine, such that tooling means may be initially positioned with respect to a transverse axis of the structural member and then moved along this axis in short, controlled increments to and from the points at which the tooling operations are to be performed. The tooling means are positioned in response to the energization of a stepping motor controlling the short, controlled increments of movement.

United States Patent 91 [111 3,787,947

Valente et al. Jan. 29, 1974 AUTO SPACE MECHANISM FOR [57.] ABSTRACTFABRICATING APPARATUS A machine is disclosed herein for effectingfabrication [75] Inventors; Raymond valeme, Kankakee; of structuralmembers, or the like, the machine com- O A Bonomo, Matteson, both fprising a work station having tooling means, drive 111, means foradvancing the structural member longitudinally of said work station, andapparatus for properly [73] Asslgnee: Mane) Bradley positioning thetooling means with respect to a prede- 2] Filed: -Sept. 12, 1972termined location at which tooling operations are to be performed on thestructural member. The position- 1 PP Nod 288,256 ing apparatus includesan indexing arrangement, as 52 US. (:1. 29/208 (3, 29/208 D, 29/200 P,as gauge means which permits automatic p 29 15 5 tion of the machine,such that tooling means may be 511 Im. Cl B23p 19/04 initiallypositioned with respect to a r n verse axis of 5 Field f Search" 83/50;29/208 C, 155 R1 the structural member and then moved along this axis '9208 13 7 in short, controlled increments to and from the points at whichthe tooling operations are to be performed.

" The tooling means are positioned in response to the [56] ReferencesCited f t t th h t 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS energization o a stepping moor con ro mg e s or controlled increments of movement. 3,712,16l' l/l973Valente 83/50 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Primary Exammer-Thomas H.Eager v Attorney, Agent, or FirmRoy H. Olson et al.

l d 7 4 J98 g MOTOR CONTROL AUTO SPACE MECHANISM FOR FABRICATINGAPPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to anapparatus for use in the fabrication of elongated structural members orworkpieces, such as angle irons, channel irons, I-beams, or the like.More particularly, the present invention provides novel apparatus forperforming automatically a plurality of tooling operations at variouslocations spaced along a length of structural member. Each of thelocations, for reference purposes is defined as an axis extendingtransversely of the longitudinal structural member with one or more ofthe tooling operations being performed at selected points on thetransverse axis. Programmed fabricating apparatus are availableincluding systems for the fabrication of structural members. However,these systems utilize complex, highly sophisticated circuitry andprogramming apparatus. Accordingly, many fabricators and users ofstructural members, who would prefer to automate their existingequipment, or purchase new automatic equipment, have been dissuaded bythe inherent economical disadvantages of the available system. Moreparticularly, the precision programming and sensing means employed inthese systems require an initial capital investment that is prohibitivein many cases. Also, due to the relative complexity of these systems,set-up time is lengthy, thus rendering the systems impractical for shortproduction runs. Unfortunately, most fabricators are confrontedprimarily with relatively short production runs, such that theadditional cost factors of these prior art systems cannot be justified.This is especially true since in most instances the tolerances that areto be maintained, while critical within certain limits, do notnecessitate the precision built into available systems.

Accordingly, not having adequate, economically feasible equipmentavailable, most fabricators resort to a manually controlled fabricatingoperation. That is, an operator controls the movement of the workpiecerelative to a tooling station and with repeated reference to thedetailed production drawings properly aligns the workpiece with respectto the work station. When this is accomplished, the fabricatingapparatus is actuated. Next, the workpiece is repositioned to bring thenext point at which the operation is to be performed into alignment withthe tooling station and the cycle repeated again. However, this mode offabrication requires constant attention of an operator, as well asrepeated and time-consuming checks and cross-checks with the productiondrawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of this inventionto provide an apparatus which is capable of allowing substantial timesavings in the fabrication of structural members as the result ofsubstantially automatic operation of positioning of the tooling stationwith respect to the structural member.

More specifically, the present invention is of particular usefulnesswhen performing operations on I-beams wherein a pattern or series ofholes are to be formed through the web portion thereof. These holes areformed at various locations spaced along the length of the beam, which,for reference purposes, will be referred to hereinafter as thetransverse or Y-axis of the beam, it being understood that thelongitudinal axis of the beam is the X-axis. In addition, the spacing ofthe points on repeated transverse axes may vary from location tolocation, such that the apparatus must be able to accommodate thesevariations. Further, it is to be realized while the followingdetaileddescription of the invention, as well as the accompanying drawings, areconnected with a punching operation, the invention may be employed inother types of tooling structures.

Accordingly, the present invention concerns novel aparatus which permitsthe fabricator to automate his equipment without a large capitalinvestment for complexcontrol systems. More specifically, the advantagesand improvements afforded by the present invention are attained by theprovision of apparatus including a work station, positioning means fororienting a workpiece with respect to the work station, and controlmeans for effecting operation of the apparatus at a proper point in thefabricating cycle. Various components which comprise the novel apparatusof this invention include a stepping motor and control circuit thereforfor positioning a transversely extending sensing probe whichautomatically positions a tool at the precise transverse location acrossthe web of a structural member.

Therefore, many other objects, features and advantages of this inventionwill be more fully realized and understood from the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein like reference numerals throughout the various views of thedrawings are intended to designate similar elements or components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is an elevational view of atooling station of a fabricating apparatus as constructed in accordancewith the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial, top plan view illustrating a typical series orpattern of holes which may be formed in the web portion of an elongatedstructural member; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary end elevational view, similar to FIG.I, and partially in sectional view to illustrate more details of thestructure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG.1 there is seen the general construction of a tooling station designatedgenerally by reference numeral 10 and constructed in accordance with theprinciples of this invention. The tooling station 10 is here illustratedas including a punching apparatus 28 for forming apertures in the webportion of an I- beam 24 as illustrated. Positioned in front of the workstation 10 is a transport conveying mechanism to accommodate anelongated structural member during transport thereof past the workstation. The I-beam 24 is supported on a frame or stand (not shown) andis operatively engaged by drive means (also not shown) capable ofproducing controlled longitudinal movement of the I-beam relative to thetooling station. In the illustrated embodiment, the tooling station 10employs tooling means in the form of a punch 28 and suitable diesassociated therewith. However, it will be understood that any othersuitable tooling means may be associated with the work station hereillustrated.

By way of background, the l-beam 24, as well as other structural memberscapable of fabrication by use of the apparatus of the present invention,are used in the erection of buildings and other structures. In thisregard numerous apertures 26, FIG. 2, must be formed in the members toprovide for interconnection during assembly. Most frequently, it isnecessary that a plurality of apertures in a prescribed pattern beformed at the end of the I-beam and at various locations along thelength thereof. However, from one I-beam to another the patterns mayvary as to the location along the length of the beam, and with regard tothe arrangement of the patterns of holes at particular locations. Thatis, at one location, five apertures evenly spaced across the width ofthe web of the beam may be required, while at another location, only twoor so apertures may be required, either evenly or unevenly spaced apart.

While a high degree of accuracy is not absolutely necessary in theplacement of the apertures 26, it is necessary that their positioning besufficiently controlled so that these apertures align with correspondingI apertures formed in mating structural members to be connected thereto.Thus,-the problem resolves itself into that of properly positioning thepunch head 28 with respect to the l-beam for the formation of eachaperture. This problem is complicated somewhat by the fact that inrolling or forming the I-beam, a beam camher is generally encountered,that is, the beam will have a slight curvature along its entire lengthrather than being absolutely straight as preferably desired. However, aswill be readily understood, the flange portions of the beam may be usedas a reference along the entire length thereof so that dimensioning fromthe flange will produce a desired repeatable result with respect topositioning apertures along the transverse axis of the l-beam.

In FIG. 2, there are illustrated typical patterns of holes 26 that maybe formed in the end of the I-beam 24. It is to be kept in mind, thatthese patterns are closely spaced in FIG. 2 for purposes ofillustration, and in practice the distance between the transverse axesacross the web portion of the beam may vary to many different desireddimensions. For reference purposes, each hole 26 is located by theintersection of an X-axis and a Y-axis, the former being disposedlongitudinally of the I-beam and the latter being the transverse axis.In the illustration of FIG. 2 the five X-axes are illustrated andlabeled X,X while only three Y-axes are labeled Y,-Y;,, as shown. If thepattern of holes 26 along each of the transverse Y-axes are to be thesame, a control circuit 50 will automatically produce the necessarycontrol pulses to a stepping motor 51 to control the extension of aprobe 94 which engages the flange portion of the I-beam 24. Theautomatic control of the control circuit 50 spaces the punching stationat the desired transverse location along the Y-axis while the l-beam isin a fixed position in front of the work station.

During the fabricating cycle, it is necessary to attain bothlongitudinal and transverse movement of the I- beam 24 relative to thetooling station 10 so as to position properly the punch head 28 at theexact intersection of the X and Y axes. This operation is clearly setforth in a related application Ser. No. 94,474, filed Dec. 2, 1970, US.Pat. No. 3,712,161. The improvement of this invention over that as setforth in the above-mentioned application is that the positioning of theprobe 94 is accomplished by means of a simple and efficient steppingmotor 51 connected to the control circuit 50. By using a stepping motor51 even more accurately obtainable dimensioning of the transversepositioning is obtainable. This is because stepping motors have finelycontrolled rotatable motion which is divided into a plurality of arcuatesegments. By connecting suitable gearing to the motor a given fractionof a rotation or a number of rotations will cause precise positioning ofthe probe 94 with respect thereto.

Referring again to FIG. I, the tooling station 10 includes a C-shapedframe member 30 which carries the punch head 28 on the upper arm 30'thereof and is mounted for vertical movement on a plurality of guiderods 32 which pass through associated slide guides 36 formed on theframe 30. The guide rods 32 are secured to an upper plate 38 and attheir lower end to a lower plate 34. A housing 40 is disposed upon theplate 38 and contains therein the necessary drive arrangement designedfor effecting vertical positioning of the C- frame 30, andcorrespondingly, actuation of the punch head 28, the details of thedrive means within the housing 40 not being necessary for a fullunderstanding of the present invention. For the present, it issufficient to realize that the upper portion of the C-frame 30 includesa vertically extending rod 42 which is threadedly engaged with drivemeans mounted within the housing 40 such that the frame may be raisedand lowered in order to position the punch head properly with respect tothe web portion of the I-beam 24. The threaded rod 42 functions in awell-known manner.

The work station 10 is mounted upon a stationary base unit preferablywhich is anchored to a floor structure or the like. The base 80 has apair of spaced apart rod blocks 82 which support a pair of horizontalguide rods 84 extending therefrom, each of said guide rods beingreceived within a guide bearing unit 86 secured to the base platen 34 ofthe structure. The base platen 34 and the punch head 28, which iscarried by the C-frame 30, are mounted for slidable movementtransversely of the path of longitudinal movement of the l-beam 24.

The apparatus for attaining the initial positioning of the punch head28, as well as that utilized for subsequent indexing of the punch headis more clearly illustrated in FIG. 3. The spacing of the apertures 26on any given transverse Y-axis is generally some multiple of a givenvlaue A which is represented by the spacing between the individuallongitudinally extending axes X -X Accordingly, initial positioning ofthe punch head 28 must be effected relative to some datum point and,then the punch is indexed through a distance A" or some even integermultiple thereof. The particular details of the function of the punchpositioning is illustrated in application Ser. No. 94,474, filed Dec. 2,1970, US. Pat. No. 3,712,161.

Referring now to FIG. 3 the stepping motor 51 is operatively connectedto the probe 94 by means of a threaded shaft 95 engaging the threadedend portion of a hollow tubular member 96. The stepping motor includes abearing support unit 97 for maintaining a central axis between the motorand the threaded shaft 95. The end of the probe 94 is provided with aroller ball 94a which engages the flange of the structural member 24, asshown in phantom lines.

The desired position of the probe 94 is then interpreted into electricalsignals from the control circuit 50 and delivered to the stepping motor51 so as to cause extension of the probe 94 a given dimension. Once theprobe 94 is properly extended the control unit 40 is actuated to causetransverse movement of the entire work station so that the probe engagesthe flange portion of the l-beam thus stopping the punch unit 28 at thedesired location along the transverse axis thereof.

During the auto space mode of operation of the control circuit 50 thestepping motor 51 is controlled and the control mechanism 40 for thepunch unit 28 is operated in response to the auto space circuitry. Thisproduces automatic punching of the plurality of holes along a giventransverse axis once the first hole location is obtained.

A typical sequence of operation is as follows: the number of holes andthe dimensions between holes are set in the auto space switchesassociated with the control circuit 50. The operator locates theposition of the first hole by operating the stepping motor to cause theweb punch to move in or out. The operator does this by appropriatelydepressing the web punch gauge (IN- OUT switch) and observing anassociated magnified mechanical scale located at the front of themachine. The operator then depresses the auto space start switch. Thecontrol circuit 50 then cooperates with the punch unit 28 to control itsoperation and to change the transverse position of the entire C-frame30. When the first punch operation is completed, the web punchautomatically moves to the desired location set in the auto spacecontrol circuit, this movement being either in an inward or an outwarddirection. Therefore, the control circuit of this invention allows thepunch unit 28 to function in both directions during the auto space modeso as to minimize the time required between punching holes of spacedapart transverse axes. The web punch will travel the distance set intothe auto space control and then stop. The circuitry commands the webpunch to operate its actuation to form the holes within the web. Thissequence of operation is repeated until the number of holes set into theauto space switches are punched thus completing the cycle.

If the auto space (number of holes) selector switch is set at zero theoperator can depress the auto space start switch and the web punch willnot punch any holes at all. However, the auto space control circuit willcause movement of the punch along the transverse axis to the desiredlocations. If a pin punch marking is desired the punch unit 28 may be soprovided so that rather than punching holes completely through thetransverse axis locations only pin punch markings are obtained. This isall precisely controlled in response to the energization of the steppingmotor 51.

Accordingly, what has been described is a simple and efficient means forcontrolling the transverse dimensioning of the web punch of a beampunching mechanism. While a single specific embodiment of the inventionis disclosed, it will be understood that other suitable variations andmodifications may be effected without departing from the spirit andscope of the novel concepts disclosed and claimed herein.

We claim:

l. A machine for use in a fabricating cycle wherein a series of toolingoperations are performed on an elongated workpiece, said operationsbeing performed at predetermined points on selected axes extendingtransversely of the longitudinal axes of the elongated workpiece, saidmachine comprising: a work station including tool means for performingsaid tooling operation,

and means supporting said tool means for movement along a path disposedtransversely of the longitudinal axis of the workpiece, advancing meansfor effecting relative longitudinal movement of said workpiece withrespect to the work station, such that a selected one of said transverseaxes may be aligned with the transverse movement of said tool means, andapparatus for properly positioning and then operatingsaid tool means atpoints on said transverse axis, said apparatus including a steppingmotor and control circuit therefor operatively associated with said toolmeans and capable of indexing said tool means to the points on saidtransverse axis at which the tooling operations are to be performed,said apparatus further including reciprocal means capable of selectiveoperative connection and disconnection with said tool means so thatselective movement of said tool means in a desired direction may beobtained, said movement being limited to increments which are controlledin response to energization of said stepping motor, said control meansoperative for actuating said stepping motor and correlating theoperation of said tool means when positioned at the desired points alongthe selected transverse axis.

2. The machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said control circuitincludes control circuit function selector means associated therewith toselect automatic spacing operations of the tool means for automaticallypositioning said tool means at predetermined spaced intervals along saidtransverse axis upon setting the initial starting condition.

3. The machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said automaticspacingoperation is operative in both directions along said transverse axes sothat tooling operations can be performed first in one direction along agiven transverse axis and then similarly repeated when movement of saidtool means is in the opposite direction along a second transverse axis.

4. The machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said apparatus forpositioning said tool means further includes a probe extending from saidstepping motor, said probe comprising a hollow body portion having athreaded end, a threaded shaft extending through said threaded end androtatably connected to said stepping motor, whereby incremental rotationof said stepping motor will rotate said threaded shaft and causeexpansion and contraction of said hollow body portion to position saidprobe means adjacent a flange portion of the workpiece being operatedupon, thus limiting the extent of travel of said tool means along saidtransverse axis when said probe means engaging the flange of theworkpiece.

1. A machine for use in a fabricating cycle wherein a series of toolingoperations are performed on an elongated workpiece, said operationsbeing performed at predetermined points on selected axes extendingtransversely of the longitudinal axes of the elongated workpiece, saidmachine comprising: a work station including tool means for performingsaid tooling operation, and means supporting said tool means formovement along a path disposed transversely of the longitudinal axis ofthe workpiece, advancing means for effecting relative longitudinalmovement of said workpiece with respect to the work station, such that aselected one of said transverse axes may be aligned with the transversemovement of said tool means, and apparatus for properly positioning andthen operating said tool means at points on said transverse axis, saidapparatus including a stepping motor and control circuit thereforoperatively associated with said tool means and capable of indexing saidtool means to the points on said transverse axis at which the toolingoperations are to be performed, said apparatus further includingreciprocal means capable of selective operative connection anddisconnection with said tool means so that selective movement of saidtool means in a desired direction may be obtained, said movement beinglimited to increments which are controlled in response to energizationof said stepping motor, said control means operative for actuating saidstepping motor and correlating the operation of said tool means whenpositioned at the desired points along the selected transverse axis. 2.The machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said control circuit includescontrol circuit functiOn selector means associated therewith to selectautomatic spacing operations of the tool means for automaticallypositioning said tool means at predetermined spaced intervals along saidtransverse axis upon setting the initial starting condition.
 3. Themachine as defined in claim 2 wherein said automatic spacing operationis operative in both directions along said transverse axes so thattooling operations can be performed first in one direction along a giventransverse axis and then similarly repeated when movement of said toolmeans is in the opposite direction along a second transverse axis. 4.The machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said apparatus for positioningsaid tool means further includes a probe extending from said steppingmotor, said probe comprising a hollow body portion having a threadedend, a threaded shaft extending through said threaded end and rotatablyconnected to said stepping motor, whereby incremental rotation of saidstepping motor will rotate said threaded shaft and cause expansion andcontraction of said hollow body portion to position said probe meansadjacent a flange portion of the workpiece being operated upon, thuslimiting the extent of travel of said tool means along said transverseaxis when said probe means engaging the flange of the workpiece.